Hazard Avoidance is a key technology for a safe landing of future planetary missions. During Hazard Avoidance, sensors and computers onboard the lander are used to detect hazards in the landing zone, autonomously select the most suitable region for landing, and generate the trajectory that retargets the lander to the safer landing site. In this paper, visionbased hazard avoidance algorithms are...

In recent years a clear trend has developed in the aerospace industry towards the procurement of integrated systems from major suppliers (ref. 1). In this process, Messier-Dowty became a provider of integrated landing gear systems who is responsible for supplying a certifiable landing gear system and providing all the system level performance analysis. The aircraft landing gear system retractio...

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of landing surface on plantar kinetics during a half-squat landing. Twenty male elite paratroopers with formal parachute landing training and over 2 years of parachute jumping experience were recruited. The subjects wore parachuting boots in which pressure sensing insoles were placed. Each subject was instructed to jump off a platform with ...

This paper describes an approach to the problem of optimal motion planning with uncertain dynamics. This problem can occur whenever a vehicle suffers damage or when the environment makes the effect of motion actions unpredictable and potentially risky. We address in particular the case of aircraft with structural and/or control surface damage. The goal in this problem is to find an optimal plan...

[1] Dark mobile materials on Mars are widely considered to be volcanically derived windblown particulates. Such a conclusion is consistent with the large volcanic edifices on Mars and the assumption that a volatile-rich crust would not favor significant impact melt generation. Several post-Viking discoveries, however, provide new perspectives for reconsidering alternative origins not only for s...

Landing mission concepts that are being developed for exploration of solar system bodies are increasingly ambitious in their implementations and objectives. Most of these missions require accurate position and velocity data during their descent phase in order to ensure safe, soft landing at the pre-designated sites. Data from the vehicle’s Inertial Measurement Unit will not be sufficient due to...

Objectives: Children aged 10 to 12 years often show dangerous maneuvers during landing, which include increased knee valgus, placing them at higher risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. The study aimed to investigate the relation of the trunk and hip kinematics with the peak knee abduction angle during single-leg landing among preadolescent female soccer players. Methods: Thirty-s...

In this paper, a control approach called Artificial Neural Tissue (ANT) is applied to multirobot excavation for lunar base preparation tasks including clearing landing pads and burying of habitat modules. We show for the first time, a team of autonomous robots excavating a terrain to match a given 3D blueprint. Constructing mounds around landing pads will provide physical shielding from debris ...

In the absence of visual orientation cues, the inadequacy of the vestibular sense often contributes to orienting illusions [1] during flight. Spatial disorientation (SD) plays a significant role in helicopter accidents [2, 3], often when outside visual references are lost during landings in dusty environments [4]. The lack of ambient visual cues, the close proximity to the ground, and the urgen...